Lesson 7 - Reporting Psychological Investigations Flashcards
What are the 7 stages in writing a psychological report?
1 Title 2 Abstract 3 Introduction leading to aim/hypothesis 4 Method section 5 Results section 6 Discussion section 7 Reference section
What is the ‘Title’ section in writing a psychological report?
This stage should provide a clear focus of the study and should involve the key variables that you are investigating.
Give an example of a title:
An investigation to study the relationship between health and stress levels.
What is the ‘Abstract’ section in writing a psychological report?
This stage provides a clear and concise summary of the entire investigation which allows readers to gain an overview of the piece of research so that they can decide whether it is worth reading the whole report or not.
What 10 things are often included in the Abstract stage?
Background research Aims Experimental hypothesis Null hypothesis Methods and procedures Experimental design Sample used (number, age, setting) and sample methods Brief account of findings including statistical tests and level of significance Conclusion Limitations of the study
What is the ‘Introduction leading to aims/hypothesis’ section in writing a psychological report?
This stage should include previous research and a clear overview of why you wish to study the topic including a general discussion of the research topic. From this, an aim and possibly hypothesis can be established that will be one/two tailed and possibly also a null hypothesis.
What is the ‘Method’ section in writing a psychological report?
This stage involves how the investigation was carried out and it should be very precise so that it can easily be replicated.
What are the 5 parts to the Method section?
1 Design 2 Sample 3 Apparatus and Materials 4 Procedure 5 Control
What is the ‘Design’ stage to the Method section? (4)
- This stage refers to the experimental design used and why (independent groups, repeated measures and matched pairs).
- The IV and DV should be stated
- The research method
- Ethical issues which may occur and how they will be dealt with
What is the ‘Sample’ stage to the Method section? (2)
- Give details of your sample for example, male, female, age, background, ethnicity and where you got them from
- What sampling method was used and why? For example, random allocation as it ensures no researcher bias
What is the ‘Apparatus and Materials’ stage to the Method section?
Make a concise list of all materials needed to carry out the research
What is the ‘Procedure’ stage to the Method section? (2)
- Bullet pointed steps or a report of the procedure in precise detail so that it can easily be replicated
- The procedure should include briefing, standardised instructions (researcher) and debriefing.
What is the ‘Control’ stage to the Method section?
This refers to how the study was controlled for example, extraneous variables (experimenter variables, situational variables, participant variables), random allocation, validity, reliability etc;
What is the ‘Results’ section in writing a psychological report?
This refers to the findings of the research study. This should include:
- Descriptive statistics (central tendency and measures of dispersion).
- Inferential statistics (what statistical test has been used and why (refer to table)).
- Was the null or three experimental hypothesis accepted?
- If qualitative data was collected, what themes were there?
What is the ‘Discussion’ section in writing a psychological report?
This is where the researcher will interpret the research results using 4 key areas:
- Summary of results
- Relationship of results with background research done prior the the research study
- Limitations of the methodology (improvements?)
- Implication of results (Valid? Reliable? Generalisable? Etc;)
